Friends in Strange Places
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: It might seems strange that the two women had grown close, but neither one of them really cared about strange. They knew now that life was bound to throw things at you that you never expected. Fate did not play by accepted social conventions, why should they? So to anyone else the question Sophie wanted ask might have seemed out of line, but not to Maggie.


_**Well…I really don't know where this came from…I just really like Maggie and she doesn't get much of a chance to do anything, but she and Sophie are friends now so I think this conversation works alright…but I'm not really sure.**_

_**Disclaimer: Don't own them…**_

_**Spoiler: The Long Good-Bye Job**_

"Maggie," Sophie said standing up to greet the other woman, "How are you?"

"Good," Maggie replied, "How have you been?"

"Never better," Sophie said with a smile, unconsciously fingering the ring on her left hand.

The two women sat down at the table together and examined their menus. They made small talk for a while, about the weather and such, but after they placed their orders Maggie looked at Sophie.

"Why did you invite me her?" she asked.

"I wanted to see you," Sophie said, "and there was something that I wanted to talk to you about, but I had to do it in person.

"What is it?" Maggie asked curiously.

"Well Nate and I," she said holding up her left hand.

"Oh my gosh," Maggie said smiling, "Congratulations."

There was a pause. "I wanted you hear to here it from me," Sophie explained, "Because, you—you know…"

"I'm his ex-wife?" Maggie finished for her, and Sophie nodded.

"Yeah," Sophie replied a little awkwardly.

"Well, thank you," Maggie told the other woman, "I am happy for you and Nate. I really am. I think you may have been the best thing that ever happened him. You saved him from himself, which was something I could not do."

"I didn't have to try to save myself at the same time," Sophie pointed out.

"You two are good for each other," she said, "you always have been. Even when you were on opposite sides of the same chase."

"Maggie," Sophie told the other woman, "You know that Nate loved you. A part of him always will, but after…"

"I know," Maggie replied. In truth it was the same with her. A part of her still loved Nate, a part of her always would, but after Sam died and the drinking started, she knew that she could not spend the rest of her life with Nate, so she let him go. It had taken him years, but finally he had found the woman he needed.

"I need you to know something else too," Sophie said a little hesitantly.

"What?" Maggie asked.

"When Nate was married to you," Sophie told her, "nothing happened between us. I swear."

"I know," Maggie said with a shrug.

"Nate said you didn't believe him," Sophie said.

"I didn't," she said with a small smile, "but that was years ago. I was angry. We were both throwing whatever barbs we could at each other. I'm not sure whether I believed it then or not, but I've known from the day I met you that he was telling the truth. You're just not that kind of woman."

Sophie looked at the other woman in shock. Maggie had a very matter-o-fact nature about the whole thing. She was not angry with Sophie. She never had been. She was genuinely happy that Nate and Sophie were together now. They were good together and good for each other. She and Nate had been that way once, but that was a long time ago.

"I'm glad we've become friends," Sophie said after a few moments.

"Me too," Maggie agreed. To most it would have been a strange situation and impossible friendship, but Sophie and Maggie made it work. They were connected by Nate, but they had more in common than just him. From the way they interacted, no one at the surrounding tables would be able to tell that one of these women was a fiancée and one was an ex-wife to the same man. "So you two are going to become the next Bonnie and Clyde?" Maggie mused.

"No," Sophie said with a smile, "We're going straight. No more thieving or grifting."

"Will that last?" Maggie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know," Sophie admitted, "but I think it's worth a try."

"Sounds like it might be," Maggie agreed, "Are the others out of the game too?"

"I don't think so," Sophie said shaking her head, "they're young, and they still think they can take on the world."

"I remember those days," Maggie said with a small chuckle.

"Don't we all," Sophie replied with a smile. She paused. "There was one other think I wanted to ask you, and I may be completely out of line, and no is an okay answer. I just—"

"Just ask Sophie," Maggie said cutting short the other woman's ramblings.

"Well," she said, "I don't have a lot friends, really just you and Tara outside of the leverage crew. I was wondering if you would come to the wedding."

It was an odd question given the bond the two women shared, but at the same time it made perfect sense. Maggie could tell that Sophie did not want to make Maggie uncomfortable, but she also wanted to have her friends at her wedding.

"Could I bring a plus one?" she asked.

Sophie smiled widely. "Of course," she said, "who are you bringing?"

"He's a really nice guy, that I met a few months back when I was driving home from work and my tire blew. Changed my tire, and when I tried to pay him, he asked me out," Maggie explained looking at Sophie, "It was a little surreal actually."

"I can imagine," Sophie said.

"But he's a really great guy," Maggie said with a soft smile, and a look in her eyes that Sophie had never seen before. She supposed it had been there before back when Nate and Maggie were together. Back when Maggie had her family.

It was strange, Sophie supposed, how things could change. How two people who, by social convention, should have hated each other could become such close friends. However it felt right somehow. It felt as if this were the way it was supposed to be. It was not a path either one of them could have predicted, but it was the right one.

Maggie agreed. There was a time when she hated Sophie, more as a concept than as a person, and when she hated Nate, as a person, but time had changed things. Now she was something she had not believed she would ever be again: happy. She had learned that moving on did not mean forgetting; it meant accepting.

"I'm glad you came," Sophie said, as the two women stood up to leave.

"Me too," Maggie agreed nodding, "me too."

_**I tried to make it a little lighter that my usual stuff…not sure if it worked…please review.**_


End file.
